Sony BRAVIA® TV range: 2011 - Independent Electrical Retailer - the leading trade magazine for the electrical industry

Sony BRAVIA® TV range: 2011

Do more with your TV than ever before

Published: 10 August, 2011

New TVs from Sony deliver increased Internet content and functionality, enhanced 2D and 3D viewing, and smart connectivity features

Over the last few decades, TVs have changed almost beyond recognition. We used to watch only one or two channels broadcast in black and white, on small screens with fuzzy pictures. As the years rolled by our TVs have become more and more advanced, providing extra channels and stunning lifelike images on huge displays to provide a genuine cinematic experience. But the most dramatic changes have occurred over the last couple of years. Our TVs are now able to show 3D content, immersing the viewer in games, photos or movies like never before. However, arguably the biggest change that has occurred in recent years is the integration of the internet into TV. Simply by plugging a TV into your internet connection you will unlock a wealth of content previously only accessible from a small computer screen.

To bring a truly amazing internet experience to our sets, Sony has focused on 3 crucial areas. Content, quality, and ease of use. One of the major successes of the internet is that there is content there for everyone. Sony has reflected this in the video content that they provide through their products. BRAVIA Internet Video is a collection of the best video channels from the internet. New channels are added to the service all the time. Currently there are around 25 video channels accessible through the service, over 20 of which are completely free (non-subscription). Sony has recently launched a 3D channel through BRAVIA Internet Video which is accessible anytime, as many times as you want, and completely for free.

We all know that some video content from the internet can be low quality. So when it’s displayed on a TV, the image could be poor in comparison to the content that we’re used to. It’s because of this that Sony has introduced X-Reality. This technology has been created to enhance all pictures that play through the TV. This means it will enhance any TV image or Blu-ray picture, but crucially it will also enhance all internet content. This truly revolutionary picture engine technology processes internet content to provide such detail, colour and realism and has been solely developed by Sony and is exclusive to Sony products.

These technologies should be available to everyone, so a huge amount of time and effort has gone into developing simple, easy to use menus that will allow even the least technologically literate user to find the content that they want, in just a few button pushes. As well as simple menus, all Sony TVs have a built in instruction manual accessible by a single button push. It can walk you through any issue you may have, explain any feature you may discover, and will be updated every time the set updates its firmware.

Demonstration

Sony’s internet TV experience needs to be seen to be believed. Customers need to have the remote control in their hand and browse the wealth of content themselves to realise how much content is available, and how much content appeals to them. This means that wherever possible a Sony TV needs to be connected to the internet, and potential customers should be encouraged to try out the service.

Training website

Sony is eager to make sure customers are shown the features and benefits of the products. There are so many amazing things that the TVs can do that might be missed by most customers or even shop staff. To try and ensure that everyone understands these products and what they can do, Sony has recently launched an online training website: to access to this service, please email Stacey.pattemore@eu.sony.com

The Netbox

Sony’s internet services are available to everyone. They are built into all of Sony’s connected TVs, All Sony Blu-ray products, but also into the SMP-N100 (or more fondly named, the Netbox). This product can be plugged into any TV, regardless of the age or manufacturer, and it will provide an ever expanding range of internet channels and services to the users set.

Video On Demand

Sony’s Video On Demand service allows users to hire movies and stream them over the internet. The advantage of this service when compared to its competitors is quality. Video On Demand offers HD as well as SD movies and the service now includes movies from all major movie studios as well as brand new releases.

Music Unlimited

Available in all Sony’s connected products, Music Unlimited offers close to 7 million songs to subscribers, available to listen to whenever they want, as many times as they want. Music Unlimited is a streaming service that allows you to listen to any of your favourite music, recommend new bands/artists to you, or even sync with your iTunes account to create your own personal music cloud that can be accessed from any Sony product.

3D Channel

One concern consumers have when purchasing a 3D TV, is that there isn’t enough content available. Sony has launched a 3D channel on BRAVIA Internet Video which is completely free, and available to anyone with a 3D TV, either via the set itself, any of the Blu-ray products, or the hugely popular SMP-N100 Netbox.

Skype

Every Sony Internet TV launched in 2011, supports Skype. The hugely popular communication service can now be enjoyed from the comfort of your own sofa. The camera will come packaged with the HX923, but is available as an optional accessory for every other set, so it should be offered as an attachment to every Sony TV sale.

Other internet features

An internet TV’s main purpose is to provide as much high quality content to the user as possible. However, Sony Internet TVs also offer a wide range of additional features once they are plugged into the internet. These include Track ID, where the set will tell you what song is playing on the TV at that moment, the artist and their biography, what album it’s from by accessing the Gracenote database. All at the push of a single button, Video Search, the ability to find information on any film, actor or director) and an internet browser, allowing you to browse the internet as you would on your computer.

Internet in all sets

Sony provides the full Internet service in 24 out of 25 TVs developed for 2011. This means that internet TV can be enjoyed by everyone.

The BRAVIA 2011 range at a glance

HX923

Peak cinematic performance

• Intelligent Peak LED for dramatic